


Ends like this.

by Houseofmalfoy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Black Family-centric (Harry Potter), F/M, First War with Voldemort, Last Kiss, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-25 20:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18582316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Houseofmalfoy/pseuds/Houseofmalfoy
Summary: Written for hogwartsonline's writing prompt on tumblr: a last kiss.





	Ends like this.

I.

They’re both twenty, bordering on twenty-one.

All too aware this is the last kiss because a miracle needs to happen for it not to be and they’ve had miracles enough. It’s not happening again.

They’re in a muggle pub that she’s long stopped judging; she’s come to cherish the anonymity it brings them.

No one knows who they are; no one knows the risk they’re taking meeting up like this; no one cares as long as they pay for their drinks and don’t cause trouble. The contrast to the upper class world she’s so accustomed to is blinding.

She’s still holding her glass of white wine after he downs his beer and puts his glass down on the counter; the reality of what happens when she finishes her drink and considers the night over enough to make her postpone it as long as she can manage.

 

II.

It’s war.

Every day more people die and even more just barely escape death. If he blames her still for her siding with Lucius he’s stopped letting it on. 

He’s a blood-traitor and she’s a death eater’s wife and the more the war progresses the higher the risk they take is. She’s with child; as are his closest friends. The risk isn’t worth it anymore.

If anyone finds out it’ll be the death of them; a miracle won’t save them now.

Her heart beats with dread when she takes the last sip of her wine and her hand is already trembling when she puts the glass down next to his, his fingers only take a moment to slip into hers with a familiar ease.

This is it.

 

III.

They’ve stolen kisses all throughout the night but this is different.

“This is goodbye, is it not?” She asks, trying to find the enjoyment she usually would in imagining him correcting her speech. Too proper, too polite, for a thing like this in a place like this. He always teased her.

Now he says nothing to it and the seriousness — the finality of it — nearly brings her to tears. He nods in a way that’s nothing like the Sirius she knows- she loves.

He kisses her and even though she knows it’s not true it feels like he's never kissed her like this before.

In an instant she's lost in it. Desperation and devotion and fear and love mix into the feeling of utter peace when he pulls her against him until there's no way she could be closer.

 

IV.

He's safety. He's childhood memories only they could ever understand. He's the smell of cigarettes and leather jackets.

He's countless nights in muggle pubs and his apartment in London that she already knows she'll cherish for the rest of her days.

He's an engagement broken off as soon as it began and a romance a vow couldn't stop.

He’s promises they’ll never keep and he’s a past life they’ll never get back.

He's familiar and forbidden and everything in between and she loves him for it.

 

V.

She's out of breath and pulls away just enough for the shortest amount of time she can manage.

Pretends not to see the tears in his eyes when she takes another breath and kisses him again.

 

VI.

When they part a second time, it’s over.

The tears in his eyes have fallen down his cheeks and she stops fighting against it; her lip quivers and she’s crying through the pained smile they share when they catch the bartender’s confused look at the same time.

He wants to tell her it won’t be the end; she’d love to hear him make promises of second chances and possibilities when it’s all over but in the end they both know too well it’s useless to believe in chances so slim.

She hears the ‘I love you’ in his whispered “I’ll miss this,” and doesn’t doubt he understands the meaning of her “me too.”

  
  



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